


last conversations

by hanzios



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Closure, Light Angst, Lovers to Friends, M/M, Post-Break Up, i'm a mackson bitch but briller needed a proper ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26814739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanzios/pseuds/hanzios
Summary: Miller & Bryan talk before Praimfaya - about Miller's new boyfriend, and their past relationship.
Relationships: Bryan & Nathan Miller, Eric Jackson/Nathan Miller
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	last conversations

**Author's Note:**

> y'all know i'm a mackson bitch through & through, but briller needed a proper ending. they were a good pair, but i get why they didn't work out. this is my attempt at their closure, and miller's insights on his new relationship with jackson.

They have been good.

They’ve only hung around a number of times, but things between Miller and Jackson have been going well. Their mission on Becca’s lab definitely instigated their… _whatever this was_ , allowing them to be together whenever Jackson wasn’t busy with trying to save the world. What started as ‘sorry for getting shot’ sex (with a side of ‘I just got dumped two weeks ago’) developed into something that Miller could even consider a relationship.

It wasn’t that hard getting attached to Jackson, either.

He was different from the rest of them. While the others were calloused fighters, Jackson was a pacifist, always thinking of the most help he could do. The nights they’d spent together, Miller quickly concluded that more than anyone on that island – hell, anyone on Earth – Jackson deserved to live.

Miller would be lying if he said the good doctor hadn’t caught his eyes before. Ever since he’d come back from the nightmare of Mount Weather, Miller always noticed the tall, handsome, gentle doctor in the infirmary, always beside Abby, always working. They’d talked before, a couple of times, and Jackson was surprisingly funny. He wasn’t loud, nor he was brash, but he had that dry, sarcastic sense of humor that made Miller laugh. Still, Miller _never_ entertained those thoughts because he had a boyfriend. Bryan and him – they were good.

Keyword: were.

Too much was different between them since Miller came down to the ground. He’d changed, he thought, or maybe they were always like this and he never noticed. Bryan was his first boyfriend, after all. Miller forgave him for spying on him, forgave him for siding with Pike. But the hydro generator was the last straw.

The night of that incident, Bryan moved out after breaking up with him. They’d talked for hours, and concluded that their relationship had to end.

Part of Miller wondered that that’s the reason why he slept with Jackson in the first place – that it was just him blowing off steam from his last long-term relationship. But the longer they spent time together, the more he realized it wasn’t that at all.

He cared for Jackson. He really did.

Currently, the two of them, with Murphy and her Grounder girlfriend, Emori, were unloading boxes of materials into the bunker. Despite Jackson’s protests, Miller helped him carry some of the stuff into the Medical Bay. They talked the whole way through, shoulders bumping together as if two planets orbiting each other.

When they reached the door, Miller set down the boxes, standing close to Jackson.

He was smiling, the both of them were, like lovesick fools at the end of the world. (They were.)

“I’ll come by later after helping the others,” Miller said, a hand on Jackson’s arm.

“Yeah,” Jackson replied. “Don’t miss me too much.”

Miller loved how easygoing Jackson was with him. Grinning, he leaned close and pressed a chaste kiss on the doctor’s mouth. When they pulled away, Jackson immediately went back to work, and Miller turned around.

Across the hall, he spotted a figure that was all too familiar to miss.

“Bryan,” he said, heart racing as if he’d just been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

They’ve seen each other a couple of times after their break-up, what with being Guards and all, but they never really talked. Bryan was one of the reasons why he volunteered for the Nightblood crew in the first place. It’s hard having small-talk with someone you used to love, after all.

But the world was ending. And if they didn’t have closure, Miller would regret it.

Bryan forced a smile into his face, always handsome in his uniform.

“Hey, Nate,” he said, awkwardly, as Miller walked closer to him. “So… Doc Jackson, huh?”

Miller bit his lip, heart heavy. “Bry, I–“

“You don’t have to say anything.” Bryan stopped him. He was thankful for that; he didn’t know what to say, anyway. “Look, I’m happy for you. He’s a good guy.” There was something about his eyes that betrayed what he was saying.

A ghost of a smile landed on Miller’s lips as he thought of Jackson. “He is.”

An air of awkwardness blanketed the both of them, and suddenly Miller wished that the world ended right at that moment. After taking a breath, he said, “I’m sorry.”

Bryan’s eyebrows knit in confusion. “For what?”

“I’m sorry we didn’t work out.”

Suddenly, Bryan’s hand was on his shoulder, comforting. “It wasn’t meant to last, anyway,” he said, slow and painful. “After everything fell to shit, we grew apart. We tried our best, Nate.”

The corner of Miller’s mouth twitched. “I don’t regret us, though.”

“If you did, I would’ve beat your ass right here,” Bryan joked, his hand falling to his side. The both of them laughed, just like old times, like they were the same kids who fell in love on the Ark.

“So… we’re good?”

Bryan nodded, smiling. This time, it was real. “We’re always good, Nate. I got your back.”

Miller, overwhelmed with emotion, stepped forward and enveloped his ex-boyfriend in a warm embrace. For a second, he didn’t think Bryan would hug him back, but soon a pair of arms wrapped around his back. Miller felt at peace, knowing there weren’t any bad blood left between them. He cared for Bryan, he really did. He was just glad that they could still be friends despite everything they’ve been through.

+

When he woke up dizzy, Jackson was beside him. The man had a hand on his shoulder, and when Miller started to look around at the people coming to consciousness, he suddenly realized what had happened.

“M–My dad–“

“I’m sorry, Nate,” Jackson whispered.

It felt like the world was closing in around him. His mind drifted to his final moments with his father, arms around him and promising him a bright future. Jackson took him into his arms, Miller buried onto the doctor’s jacket. His weak arms clung onto Jackson’s back as he tried his hardest not to explode into a sobbing mess.

In shuddered breaths, he asked, “Is Bryan…?”

Softly, Jackson said, “He’s not here, either. I… I tried looking for them when I woke up.”

There was something about that fact that made Miller’s heart soar, that made him feel like everything was about to be okay. He clung on to Jackson a little tighter, reminded of his last moment with the man he used to love.

“I… I’m glad you’re here, Jax.”

He felt Jackson press a kiss on top of his head. “Whatever happens after this, I got you, Nate. We’ll survive this. Together.” 

Miller doesn’t know what he did in his past life that made him lucky enough to have Jackson beside him. But whatever it is, he’s eternally grateful. In one day, he lost two of the most important peopple in his life.

Now he’s left with one.

Miller’s happy it’s Jackson.


End file.
